Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren updated the media on the status of defenseman Andrej Meszaros before departing for the team's trip to Florida.

"Andrej Meszaros has a left shoulder injury. He's going to miss some time and right now we're hopeful it's going to be a four-week rehabilitation of the injury. It's a muscle injury in and around the shoulder joint and we just have to get it strong. We believe he's going to be out for about a month."

Holmgren also spoke of the recent plague of injuries the Flyers have had to endure.

"We've lost three players: Rinaldo, Hartnell and now Meszaros to somewhat significant injuries. I'm not sure we're much different than a lot of teams in the league we just have to fight through it and take the approach that it's opportunities for other players."

added 3:00pm,

The Philadelphia Flyers have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with RW Mike Knuble and have also recalled D Andreas Lilja from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms, according to general manager Paul Holmgren. Both Knuble and Lilja will be available for tomorrow night’s game at Florida. Knuble will wear #9.

The Flyers traded for Meszaros on July 1. Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman jumped at the opportunity to unload Meszaros’ salary-cap albatross for just a second-round pick.

Despite his heavy price tag, Meszaros - who has 4 years left at $4 million per season - could fit in with the Flyers exactly as he did with the Ottawa Senators, whom he helped guide to the Stanley Cup finals in 2007.

Meszaros was clearly miscast as a No. 1. Although he is paid like a top-end defenseman, he could fit in anywhere on the Flyers’ deep blue line from No. 2 through No. 5.

“There is always some pressure, but obviously not as much as in Tampa,” Meszaros said yesterday. “I didn’t mind the pressure. There is always a lot of pressure. You want to be the best and you want to play a lot. We have eight good defensemen here, and they can play. It will be a good fit here.”

Before a single tweak to the roster, the Tampa Bay Lightning were already poised for improvement in 2010-11. With the tumultuous era of previous ownership already behind them when the sale of the team to Jeff Vinik was completed late last season, gone in an instant were any and all off-ice concerns and the circus went back to being an annual visitor to the St. Pete Times Forum rather than a permanent resident. With the appointment of Steve Yzerman as general manager, credibility returned to the franchise and new head coach Guy Boucher was widely regarded as the hottest commodity on the off-season coaching market.

Without a solitary player move, hockey life in Tampa was good again.

But far be it from Yzerman to rest on the comfort that fans surely feel by him simply not being one of those other guys. The addition of former Flyers forward Simon Gagne headlines a list of shrewd off-season maneuvers for the rookie GM and the revamped roster could very well translate to the sort of on-ice success that will make Lightning followers quickly forgot about three non-playoff seasons gone by.

Former Ottawa Senators defencemen Wade Redden and Andrej Meszaros rejected Friday speculation that their former team’s collapse last year was linked to excessive partying.

The two players, who will play against each other here Saturday when Redden’s New York Rangers face the Tampa Bay Lightning, also said they never witnessed inappropriate off-season behaviour involving former teammate Ray Emery, who was asked during an interview with ESPN.com in August about whether he used recreational drugs.

Both players cited other reasons - Redden spoke of a failure to maintain the team’s historic commitment to team defence, while Meszaros suggested that exhaustion over the long playoff run the year before ultimately led to Ottawa’s second-half flop.

“It got to the point where the dollars were just too much for us,” Murray said in a conference call last night. “We thought it was at a point where we weren’t going to be able to do it. I wasn’t able to make the adjustment with my salary structure.

“The last two years, (Meszaros’ play) has left a lot to be desired. I know Filip Kuba well and he’s really going to help us. I know he’s excited about this change. As for Picard, he’s local guy with a lot of potential. We feel good and the first-round pick is also going to help us.”

Murray said Kuba, Chris Phillips, Anton Volchenkov and Jason Smith will be club’s top four blueliners this season.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed defenseman Andrej Meszaros to a six-year contract today, executive vice president of hockey operations Brian Lawton announced. Meszaros was acquired from the Ottawa Senators yesterday in exchange for defensmen Filip Kuba and Alexandre Picard as well as a first-round draft pick in 2009 (previously acquired).

“The acquisition and signing of Andrej is a strong statement to our players and our fans that the Lightning ownership group is committed to putting the best product on the ice now and for years to come,” Lawton said.

Two high-ranking NHL sources confirmed to THN.com Friday that the Lightning are extremely interested in bringing the restricted free agent defenseman to Tampa Bay, but because they currently do not have their own 2009 third round draft pick that would allow them to sign Meszaros to an offer sheet, Tampa’s attempts at acquiring him may have hit a roadblock.

From there, the picture gets a little less clear….

Lightning management has been completely rebuffed by Pens GM Ray Shero, who does not wish to be even remotely associated with an RFA offer sheet.

Because of Shero’s reticence, the source said, Tampa Bay has been attempting to finalize a trade for Meszaros with Senators GM Bryan Murray that would not include the first, second and third round picks necessary for an offer sheet to work. But, according the source, Murray currently has “no impetus” to work out a trade for the 23-year-old blueliner.

Since the Andrej Meszaros camp isn’t being real helpful in identifying the team that has made a reported offer sheet to the young defenseman, I’m trying to figure it out the old-fashioned way: The process of elimination. Sure, it’s not real efficient but on a Friday afternoon when there’s not a ton of hockey news to chase down it’s entertaining….

I’ve got a confirmed no on a signed offer sheet from the GM’s of three teams I thought might be possibilities: Atlanta, Phoenix and Columbus.

“Right now, asking me if he’s going to be in training camp, the only answer I can give is I’m not sure. But we’ve still got a lot of time and we’re fully focused on trying to get a deal done,” said Meszaros’ agent, Gerry Johansson.

“Our No. 1 priority is to get a deal done with the Senators. That’s where Andrej wants to be. I’d say at this point, we’re optimistic that we’ll be able to get a deal done, but I can’t tell you that we’re close. We’ve still got work to do to make this happen.”

Summer-long talks between Meszaros’ camp and Senators GM Bryan Murray to get a deal done have been fruitless despite hours of discussions.

It’s believed the Senators have offered a contract in the range of $3.5 million (all terms US) a season on a long-term deal, but Meszaros is likely looking at something closer to the $4.5 million per year that Shea Weber received on a three-year deal with the Predators this summer.

That means Ottawa only has $9.8 million left to sign winger Antoine Vermette and defenceman Andrej Meszaros while it searches for a second-line winger and a puck-moving defenceman.

The Senators usually like to keep $1 million for injuries or a possible move at the trade deadline, so Murray is in a bit of a pickle as he awaits Vermette’s arbitration case.

A league executive predicted yesterday that based on Vermette’s 24 goals and 29 assists last season, he’ll probably be awarded around $3.5 million in arbitration. The executive said the $3.75-million average salary R.J. Umberger, who had 13 goals and 37 assists last season, recently signed for with Columbus is a good comparison.

The club already has $32.3 million US locked up in the ‘08-09 salaries of Heatley, Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher, Martin Gerber and Chris Phillips.

The Senators must re-sign restricted free agents Antoine Vermette and Andrej Meszaros, while also contemplating whether to re-sign unrestricted-free-agent centre Cory Stillman, winger Shean Donovan and defenceman Mike Commodore, or any other player who may become available on July 1.

Commodore, for one, wants to know who the club’s new coach is before weighing his options on whether to return.